Shows / Podcast Benomtad
Podcast Benomtad
Open, friendly, philosophical discussions about folktales, society, culture, and wisdom.
Episodes
Podcast BenomtadA Personal Apocalypse (Clip)
The Metaphor of the Apocalyptic Disasters: Before the apocalypse in "Revelations," there is a series of disasters, and that can be taken as the mental disorder…
Podcast BenomtadA Little Bad’ll Do You Some Good (Clip)
Hair of the Dog that Bit You: the hair of a rabid dog used to be thought of as a cure for rabies, which seems to operate on the logic of like cures like. In…
Podcast BenomtadThe Meaning of the Zombie Apocalypse
Ian and I discuss Vervaeke et. al.’s writing on the symbol of the zombie apocalypse. They show that our use of “apocalypse” is a telling transformation of the…
Podcast BenomtadGrimm’s “The Three Snake-Leaves:” Bewitched by Beauty
A poor man’s son leaves his large family with great sorrow so he will not be a burden. He joins the army of an emperor and turns the tide of a large battle and…
Podcast BenomtadHamlet & the Boy Who Could Not Shudder (Clip)
These rational characters do not accept what others say, in their fear, and go forth. Hamlet's story continues with his indecision, but this boy is oriented to…
Podcast BenomtadSticking Your Head in the Sand (Clip)
Choosing to be Oblivious: Zombies may be a warning from our unconscious. "The danger of the zombie is the danger of unconsciousness to life's problems."…
Podcast BenomtadGrimm’s “The Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was”
Who Do You Think You Are? Anyone interested in the education of the individual might enjoy a few minutes with this light, yet important tale. There is a…
Podcast BenomtadPurposelessness & the Zombie Myth
The zombie might be a sign that people feel a lack of purpose in the world. Ian and I discuss this idea from John Vervaeke et. al. in their book. We go on to…
Podcast BenomtadThe Kingdom Protects Her from Her Father (Clip)
In the Brothers Grimm’s “Fur-of-All-Kinds,” the princess demands a fur made of all the kingdom’s animals for a marriage gift from her widowed father. It…
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Grimm's “Hans Hedgehog:” The Rejected Becomes the Cornerstone
A wealthy, childless peasant feels something is missing and is mocked for not having a child. He wishes, “I wish to have a child, even if it is a hedgehog!” He…
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Zombies, Meaning, and Ritual
Zombies are everywhere in our culture, in movies and shows, and even in real life (on zombie walks). They’ve gone from being an object of horror to one of…
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A Dying Queen’s Wish Poisons Her Family’s Future (Clip)
In Grimm’s Fur-of-All-Kinds, the beautiful, dying queen makes her king promise that he will only remarry another as fair as she. Why does she do this? She…
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Xenia: Ancient Greek Guest-Friendship (Clip)
This ancient Greek concept was a big part of their culture as well as Homer’s “Odyssey,” and according to translator Emily Wilson, the poem can be treated as a…
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Our Dual Nature and the Culture Wars (Clip)
Humans participate both in the animal and the divine nature, and I think this is behind much of the culture wars. We veer between overemphasizing the divine…
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Sing, Muse, Remember the MAN Odysseus (Clip)
Homer’s second epic starts with an incantation of a man, a man who rejected godhood with alluring Calypso, a man who pined for years to be at home and hearth…
Podcast BenomtadXenia: Odysseus' Blessing and Curse
In Homer’s “Odyssey,” Book 7, Odysseus, who has at this point lost all his men and washes up alone on the Scherian beach, has through his wit and bearing, and…
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Beauty is Sus to Us (Clip)
Modern German philosophers like Marx, Nietzsche and Freud have spread the "hermeneutics of suspicion" in our culture. We have a deep suspicion of appearances…
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Odysseus Appreciates Nausicaa's Beauty (Clip)
Pornography participates in beauty, but also is consumptive, and especially, unappreciative. This is contrasted to Odysseus' paise of Nausicaa in his speech to…
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Beauty Herself Greets Odysseus (Clip)
Odysseus, when he sees nubile and beautiful Nausicaa when he washes up on shore at the beginning of Book 6, does not try to capture her in any way. This in a…
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Odysseus, Nausicaa, & Beauty’s Education
Man is he who suffers, and Odysseus is the man “of twists and turns,” the builder and destroyer, the journeyer trying to reach his beloved homeland. Here Ian…
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Grimm's Fur-of-All-Kinds (Allerleirauh)
A dying queen demands that her husband remarry only someone as beautiful as she. After the mourning period, his advisors scramble around to find a new monarch…
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Banishing the Lion from Modern Thought (Clip)
Why do we like folktales and myths? I think one reason is that they help us learn to pay attention to instinct. It’s not that I don’t think rationality is…
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Save the Suffering Animals! Grimm's "The Hut in the Forest" Summary and Discussion
The Virtue of Beauty, the Beauty of Virtue: A king is cursed to live as an old man with his servant– now animal attendants–until they are saved by one with…
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Emptiness Eating Itself (Clip)
In “Fight Club,” the protagonist tries to find meaning in life through filling his life with purchases. But that doesn’t give him fullness–he feels dead. So he…
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Why are Zombies Everywhere?
Zombies are everywhere in our culture, in movies and shows, and even in real life, on zombie walks. They’ve gone from being an object of horror to one of…
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God is Turned Down (Clip)
At the beginning of the story, the man has had his 13th child, and in a panic he runs out into the street looking for a godfather, and God shows up. He turns…
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The Power of Foresight in Grimm's "Godfather Death"
A man works very hard but there is no one left to ask to be the godfather as his 13th child is on the way. He rushes out into the street and is approached by…
Podcast BenomtadCorruption in the Garden (Clip)
The queen bathes in the stream in the garden with her angelic babe, a scene of pure life and innocence. Into this scene slinks the power-hungry cook, who…
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"The Pink (Carnation)," by the Brothers Grimm
A queen was without child, and an angel came to her and told her she would have a child who would have the power of wishing. After she had the child, the cook…
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Death Reveals the True Bride
When the false bride finally arrives, the true bride again almost dies. Ian sees this as a kind of initiation, a test to see if he will finally know who she is…
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On the Brothers Grimm's "The Twelve Huntsmen:" The Guys of Truth
Death of the King A Prince, betrothed to his Beloved, is called away, for his father the King is dying. He gives his ring to his love and says he will marry…
Podcast BenomtadPeople are Alienated from Religion and the Real (Clip)
I summarize John Vervaeke (& Allan Bloom) on problems of religion in modernism. They often focus on identity, dogma, or stand for nothing. People don't go to…
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Religious Revival for Cultural Renewal
Is there a religious revival in America? We used data from Pew to answer this question, and we talk about cultural malaise and how religion falls on deaf ears…
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But the Divine is Always with You (Clip)
The Carnation is the Prince: The carnation the heroine burns at the beginning of the story IS the prince at the end. He requires her to speak, but she freezes…
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Perfection in Narcissus (Clip)
The Echo of Orpheus: Narcissus' repulse of Echo reminds me of another vain god, Orpheus, master of music. Both end up being served by poetic justice. We see…
Podcast BenomtadPerfectionism, Tragedy, and Creative Blocks
We read and discuss the Spanish Folktale “The Carnation Youth,” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tragedy both in life and in “The Great Gatsby,” and Ian’s struggles with…
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Narcissus’ Pool is the Mind (Clip)
This pool is a metaphor for the mind. But there is a "healthy narcissism" that is developmentally-appropriate. (A Clip from the Episode “The Myth of Narcissus…
Podcast BenomtadWhy Narcissists Don’t Seek Help (Clip)
When you lack a feeling of substance, you need to be propped up by others. (A Clip from the Episode “The Myth of Narcissus: Seeing Only Oneself”) Thank you for…
Podcast BenomtadThe Myth of Narcissus: Seeing Only Oneself
Echo was cursed to only repeat what others had said, and fell in love with Narcissus, who shunned her. She wasn’t the only one Narcissus treated coldly. He…
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Grimm's "The Seven Ravens:" Sacrifice for Family
A father had seven sons, but no daughters, and wished for and finally got one. His sons went to get water for the Christening, but dropped the bucket into it…
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The Empty, Ugly Palace (Clip)
When you've got your basic needs met, like the father does when he takes shelter in Beast's castle, one looks for transcendence, including beauty. This is…
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"Beauty and the Beast:" The Need for Beauty
A rich merchant with three sons and three daughters– the eldest daughters hold out on marriage to a Duke or Earl, but the youngest, aptly-named Beauty, does so…
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Finally Gaining Sight (Clip)
Hans, beset from childhood with violence from his parents, finally makes it in life, and is to be the king of his wife’s town. However, the people riot when…
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A Fairy Tale of A Good but Endangered Boy
VonSchönwerth’s “The Knight’s Sash” is a story about an intrepid son without a father, who continually does his duty, eventually wins love and devotion. We…
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Acceptance of Folly & Death
LL and I do a short breathing meditation, then a zoom out contemplation. After checking in about recent challenges, we discuss Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations…
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The Bearskin and Vulnerability (Clip)
The Gold Child goes into the dangerous forest full of thieves and conceals his skin with a bearskin, and passes through unmolested.The Gold Child goes into the…
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"The Gold Children," by the Brothers Grimm
A fisherman catches a gold fish, which makes a deal with him: he’ll have a nice big house if he lets the fish go, on the condition he tell no one how he got…
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Ignoring the Feminine and Dragged Down to the Depths (Clip)
In the fairy tale time logic, the fisherman's son practically becomes a priest after he is born, and after he leaves the house he doesn't see his parents…
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The Brothers Grimm’s Little Red Riding Hood
“Little Red Cap:” A little girl, beloved by her grandmother and known for her red cap, is sent by her mother to bring her grandmother a meal. Little Cap…
Podcast BenomtadThe Mermaid’s Manipulation (Clip)
The mermaid's deal with the fisherman: she gives him an abundant catch without telling him, and then takes it away unless he'll agree to her demand. In order…
Podcast BenomtadAncient Greek Theater was Nothing Like Our Own (Clip)
Why Dionysus May Be the Patron of Theater: A well-told story will shake you and has the power of psychological transformation. A death to your former self. A…
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Von Schönwerth’s “The Red Silk Ribbon”
A fisherman employed by a Count that paid him well for how big his catches were suddenly stopped catching fish and was let go. Sat out on water, weeping…
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Communism and Strong Men (Clip)
We talk of the danger of applying strict logic to every situation, without using discernment. But we live in a world with a lot of mystery to our brains. So…
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Von Schönwerth's "The King's Bodyguard"
The king appoints his handsomest soldier to be his bodyguard and sends him to a nobleman with a beautiful daughter. He tells the daughter not to speak to any…
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The Scorned Princess Also Acted Out of Personal Motives (Clip)
The Princess’s Personal Agenda in “Knapsack, Hat & Horn” I view this as a cautionary tale: be respectful of someone with great power. This story also resembles…
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Dionysus: Death, Rebirth, Transformation
Ian and I discuss the Greek-Roman god Dionysus-Bacchus. He reads an Orphic poem and then I gloss various stories put together into a narrative in Edith…
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The Strange Power of Losing Something Every Day (Anna Mayala Clip)
If you’re mindful, you’re better able to connect to and serve others. How does one get so? Getting back to what naturally arises. (From a discussion on Von…
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Howard Pyle’s Robin Hood: Little John Lives with the Sheriff
The Sheriff, out hunting with the town notables, wishes John were with them. The bugle calls, and back at the castle, John awakens. He thinks of his compadres…
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Marshall McLuhan & Technology
Ian and I discuss McLuhan’s difficult Playboy interview where he answers questions about his philosophy of technology. At the core of our concern is how to…
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Is Nature, Including Human Nature, Inherently Good? (Clip) I
an: Rousseau seems to have an inherent faith in nature, in its goodness. If you believe in that, you have something to aim for, to return to that. I: Rousseau…